Brooklyn Corruption Figure Admits He Arranged Bribes

By MICHAEL BRICK

Published: February 24, 2005

A central figure in the wide-ranging investigation of judicial and political corruption in Brooklyn, a man accused of arranging bribes in divorce and child custody cases for people in the borough's Orthodox Jewish communities, pleaded guilty yesterday to 13 counts of bribery and conspiracy.

The man, an electronics dealer named Nissim Elmann, admitted passing thousands of dollars to a lawyer to arrange preferential treatment in cases before a State Supreme Court justice, Gerald P. Garson. Justice Garson has been suspended from the bench and is awaiting trial on bribery charges.

The investigation into dealings by Justice Garson, a former treasurer of the Brooklyn Democratic organization, has spilled over into a conspiracy inquiry involving the judicial nominating system and taking aim at, among others, the Brooklyn Democratic Party leader, State Assemblyman Clarence Norman Jr.

Prosecutors portrayed Mr. Elmann as a fixer, a known figure in Orthodox communities who accepted cash through the window of his car or inside a warehouse and passed it to a former lawyer who had an advantage in Justice Garson's courtroom.

The former lawyer, Paul Siminovsky, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of giving unlawful gratuities last year, after wearing a hidden microphone at the direction of the office of Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney.

Jury selection had been scheduled to begin yesterday in the case against Mr. Elmann, and his guilty plea came as a surprise to prosecutors, who had requested electronic gear for the courtroom to play tapes of 110 telephone calls and dozens of other conversations.

''He is not cooperating, nor have we asked him to cooperate with us,'' Assistant District Attorney Noel Downey said. ''The D.A.'s office came to play ball, and he backed down.''

In State Supreme Court in Brooklyn yesterday, Justice Jeffrey C. Berry read through the counts aloud in a meticulous monotone, noting the legal language and asking in plain terms if Mr. Elmann understood the charges. ''You knew this conduct was illegal?'' Justice Berry asked repeatedly, and repeatedly Mr. Elmann replied that he had.

In all, Mr. Elmann agreed to guilty pleas to seven felonies and six misdemeanors. Justice Berry ordered a presentence investigation and indicated that the sentence would probably amount to between one and a half and seven years in prison.

Mr. Downey, the Brooklyn prosecutor, described the guilty pleas as ''a telling event, because it supports the massive investigation undertaken by District Attorney Hynes and the Rackets Division in uncovering the vast corruption scheme that was unleashed on the matrimonial courts of Brooklyn.''

Gerald J. McMahon, a lawyer for Mr. Elmann, said that his client chose to plead guilty in part to spare his family the stress of a trial (Mr. Elmann did not appear to have any family members in the courtroom) and in the hope that Justice Berry would hand out sentences ''in a proportional way.''

His comment was a sidelong reference to the open cases against several other people, including Justice Garson. Justice Berry has set a status hearing for May 26 involving several of the defendants in the intertwined investigations.

Mr. McMahon described Mr. Elmann as someone pressured by his community to gain access to the spoils of corruption.

''He tried to help people, and he was pushed by people in his shul, especially David Cohen,'' Mr. McMahon said, referring to a rabbi in Midwood. ''It was almost a religious obligation, and Mr. Elmann was a seriously religious person.''

Reached by telephone, Rabbi Cohen, who Mr. McMahon said had been on his witness list, declined to comment.

In court, Mr. Elmann passed up an opportunity to blame his rabbi or his community. After he finished pleading to the charges, Justice Berry asked him, ''Nobody threatened, forced or coerced you to do these acts?''